Category Archives: General

General

This ‘N That…

Regarding yesterday’s Super Bowl LV. between Tampa Bay and Kansas City…

…that’s why I don’t make any sports bets. Here are my original predictions regarding the game (this is the original post from the Friday before Sunday’s game)…

While its very tough to bet against Tom Brady, a man who may well be viewed -unless Mahomes or someone else proves better in time- the best Quarterback ever, the fact is that the Bucs are a more flawed team, IMHO, than Mahomes and the Chiefs. It just seems like the Chiefs have more playmakers versus the Bucs.

So my prediction is that the Chiefs will again win (they won last year’s SuperBowl), barring some kind of weirdness.

That’s not to say that I’m rock steady in my prediction.

Whew… thank goodness I was so wishy washy there at the end about my prediction! 😉

Seriously though, I feel I was right about one thing: I said Kansas City would win… barring some kind of weirdness.

I know I’m going to sound like some kind of sore loser (to be very clear: I have no preference to either team) I think there was some really squirrely stuff going on in the first half of the game.

The refs (I know, I know… blame it on the refs!) seemed to be really tough on Kansas City’s defense, like extraordinarily tough. There were some really -again IMHO!- weird/borderline calls and they helped Tampa Bay score and, eventually, run away with the thing. Also, its my understanding one of their better offensive linemen was out due to Covid-19 protocol.

Mind you and having said all that, Tampa Bay’s defense was ferocious and that, perhaps even more than Tom Brady’s usual great quarterbacking, was the key to their win. It’s hard to win a football game -even if you’re a Tom Brady or a Patrick Mahomes- if each play you run has you running for your life. I’ve personally witnessed several times the mighty Tom Brady have some really bad games against my Dolphins (a weird stat is that as great as Tom Brady is against the league in general and as terrible as my Dolphins have been for most of his time while in New England, during his run with the Patriots Brady had a losing record against the Dolphins when playing against them in Miami…7-10!) because they were able to get to him to the point where he was too hurried. At that point, his effectiveness, like Mahomes in yesterday’s game, dropped.

Anyway, congrats and until next year.

******

The second impeachment trial of one Donald J. Trump begins this week. It’s also the start of Joe Biden’s third week in office.

It’s fascinating to see the trajectory of either man.

I feel like opinions regarding Trump continue to deteriorate, at least among the general population versus those who feel themselves to be strong Republicans. That doesn’t mean the impeachment trail with somehow succeed in convicting Trump of the offenses he so clearly was impeached for -the base is strong and it seems Republican politicians are loath to go against them, witness the way they have censured the very few of their representatives for daring to agree with the idea that Donald Trump is indeed guilty.

Having said that, I feel the general public is very much against the more fanatical elements who are so protective of Trump. I further feel like more people have no desire to continue in the QAnon path that some of the Republicans seem to feel is the way to go.

This will play out in time.

Here’s a prediction, though: if indeed the Covid-19 virus is under control by Summer via vaccinations and general governmental competence under Joe Biden, and if people do realize the difference between how Trump handled things and Biden has, and if they realize how incompetent the previous administration was…

Could they somehow come to realize that perhaps -maybe!- the current crop of Republicans are simply not up to the task of taking care of business like the Democrats.

Further, if the economy roars back because of successful Covid-19 treatment, what could the Republican party possibly have to show to voters to get them to vote for them outside of QAnon nonsense?

It could be the start of a very cold winter for the party.

******

Anyway, its Monday, the start of another week,

Let’s make it a good one!

General

Coronavirus Diaries 28

Where we live, most people follow masking protocols.

The stores I usually frequent -and there aren’t that many- have big signs which tell people to mask up if they’re going to be in the stores.

At least through today, I’ve not seen anyone flout this.

Today was different.

We went to Target to pick up a couple of things and the store was pretty busy given it is Super Bowl Sunday. I imagine people are stocking up on drinks and chips and whatever other necessities they need and everyone was keeping their distances and everyone was masked.

Except for this couple and their very young (no more than 6 years old or so) child.

The three of them were walking down the aisle of the store completely maskless.

I stared directly at the husband, a huge frown on my face.

I guy saw me and I’m sure he had to see the anger in my face but he just looked away and they continued on down the aisle opposite me.

I gave them plenty of space to pass.

Sadly, I’ve seen some videos from the Tampa area where the Super Bowl is being held and it looks like a pretty large number of people have congregated there. While many of them are wearing masks, I saw all too many partiers going around maskless.

I wonder how many people are having Super Bowl parties at their homes with large groups of people?

I wonder if we’ll see another spike in infections in the next couple of weeks?

Regarding that later question, I suspect there will be another bump.

Too bad.

But not all news is bad.

Over on CNN.com, Harry Enten offers the following:

The Covid-19 news is bad, but there’s room for optimism

At the risk of spoiling the article, Mr. Enten offers the following:

The number of people getting the coronavirus is falling, and the number of people getting vaccinated is rising and will only continue to rise as more and more vaccines are made available.

This is a numbers game and these numbers are indeed positive. The number of people getting infected is dropping, though perhaps not enough, and the fact is that each day that passes more and more people will get vaccinated.

Already there is talk about when regular folks will be able to get a vaccine and, the article notes, there has been an uptick of people who say they are willing to get the vaccine.

Perhaps the fog of misinformation is lifting, if only a bit, and in time more and more of these vaccines -whether from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, or any other companies- will hit the markets and be available for people to use.

I feel like we’re at the edge of a breakthrough and I hope -dearly!- that we’ll see the end results in the next two to three months.

Dare I dream we may return to a form of normalcy -or at least less of a risk- by the end of this very year?

We’ll see.

General

Lou Dobbs… cancelled

Looks like the first shoe has dropped for the Fox (hardly) News Network.

The Fox “News” Network has for years peddled right wing “news” which was propaganda and, in the last election, several of its opinion hosts talked big about the supposed “fraud” which happened during the election, including saying voting machines by Dominion and Smartmatic were somehow compromised to give Democrats votes.

Welp, Dominion is suing for big bucks against some of the people who made such statements, including Rudy Giuliani and news came that Smartmatic has sued Fox News and several of its hosts for a whopping $2.7 BILLION dollars for defamation. Read all about it in this article presented on CNN and written by Oliver Darcy…

Smartmatic’s 2.7 Billion Lawsuit Against Fox News

Welp, it does appear this lawsuit has Fox “News” feeling more than a little heat because one of the people included in this lawsuit, Lou Dobbs, who has one of the highest rated shows Fox airs, was unceremoniously dumped (the following article is by Matthew Chapman and was presented on Salon.com)…

Fox News made Lou Dobbs its “sacrificial lamb” but will still lose billions in lawsuit, says analyst

Its funny… I recall watching Lou Dobbs when he was on CNN and he seemed, all those years ago, a reasonable enough guy. Mind you, I didn’t follow him religiously or anything, catching him here and there.

Then one day he’s gone over to Fox and I pretty much avoid that network like the plague so I didn’t see him at all, only clips here and there, and realized the guy had gone full Trumpian during the Trump “era” (I can’t tell you how much better my blood pressure’s been ever since he’s been gone… whew).

I mean, I didn’t recognize him. He was into all things Trump, praising him for everything and admonishing and demonizing anyone who had even a moderately contrarian opinion of him.

So it comes as no surprise that he’s been roped into the Smartmatic lawsuit… I’m sure there are plenty of clips of him out there warning about nonexistent problems with those -and all other!- voting machines that dared to declare Trump what he was: A loser.

Anyway, over on huffingtonpost.com a bunch of twitter folks have left their thoughts regarding Lou Dobbs abrupt departure/cancellation:

Twitter critics positively giddy after Fox drops Lou Dobbs Tonight

My favorite has to be this one (beware foul language, oh children):

General

SuperBowl LV

The Friday before the Sunday and the SuperBowl, number LV, featuring the older whiz-kid quarterback, Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Bucs, versus the young whiz-kid quarterback, Patrick Mahomes of The Kansas City Chiefs.

I like football, at least to a degree, and its always fascinating to watch any sports in general because you just never know what you’re going to get and, also, the results are usually deserved (though you’ll get plenty of salty fans talking about referees… I know, I’ve been there!).

Anyway, what do I think will happen?

While its very tough to bet against Tom Brady, a man who may well be viewed -unless Mahomes or someone else proves better in time- the best Quarterback ever, the fact is that the Bucs are a more flawed team, IMHO, than Mahomes and the Chiefs. It just seems like the Chiefs have more playmakers versus the Bucs.

So my prediction is that the Chiefs will again win (they won last year’s SuperBowl), barring some kind of weirdness.

That’s not to say that I’m rock steady in my prediction.

The Bucs may not be as strong an overall team as the Chiefs but, again, its tough to bet against Brady.

We’ll see on Sunday!

General

Lost Words…

If you think about it, language is something that’s always in flux.

Certain words may have multiple meanings or, in some cases, may start off meaning one thing and eventually mean another.

Then there are words which may describe something which, in time, becomes irrelevant or forgotten or, perhaps, a word simply falls out of favor with another taking over. Some words simply have a short life-span and are soon discarded. Some can be slang terms that don’t last a very long time.

A good collection of these so-called “lost words” have been collected in this wonderful website:

The Phontistery

What’s most intriguing about this website is that not only are these “forgotten” words listed, they are also given dates in which they were used.

For example, there’s the term “krioboly” which is defined as:

Sacrifice of many rams; bath in blood of rams

This term, according to the website, was in use from 1850 to 1882 and, perhaps, at a time when concerns regarding paganism or deviant/immoral religions were more predominant than today.

Such a weird term for something that, today, probably wouldn’t even enter people’s minds!

Here’s a really weird one: Snobographers.

The term, which was used between 1848 and 1966 (It had over one hundred years of use!) is defined as:

One who describes or writes about snobs

I mean, that makes sense but using such a term today? The website offers examples of the use of term in a sentence:

The editors scrapped the society page because it was full of pretentious snobographers.

…huh…!

Well, now you know.

General

A Little More On Tesla…

Found this intriguing article, written by Chris Randall and presented on Electrive.com…

Tesla Semi and Cybertruck dependent on 4680 cells

If you’ve read my posts here for a bit, you’ll likely know I’m a fan of electric vehicles and Tesla in particular.

Mind you, I don’t feel like I’m a “slave” to Tesla and their product but let’s face facts: At least at this point in time and even if you feel Elon Musk, the head of the company, is a troublesome (to put it mildly) figure, you’ll have to admit there is no other car company that even approaches what Tesla is doing with regards to the electric car market.

I have a Model 3 and I love the damn thing to death. It’s the best car I’ve driven/had since I began driving waaaaay back in 1981 or 82, and I’m certain I’ll never again buy an ICE vehicle for myself.

Having said that, there are times when it gets frustrating being an EV fan.

The fact is that even the cheapest Tesla model is still pretty expensive, though they have managed to get the prices within a stone’s throw of the more “average” ICE vehicles. The range isn’t quite as large as having an ICE vehicle, certainly, but again its not all that much behind. Finally, it does take a little more time to fully charge up your vehicle, though Tesla has done a terrific job IMHO with their Superchargers, which allow a refill within 20 or so minutes, depending on how much of a charge you need.

It may be a longer wait than an ICE car, but the only reason to use a Supercharger, at least for me, is when I’m doing long trips so when it gets to the point where I need to charge, I can manage the 20 or so minutes and use them for a bathroom break and/or to get food. Otherwise, I do all my charging from the convenience of my home and its cheap compared to gas.

The other thing which is keeping the EV revolution from becoming much more robust is what is mentioned in the article: Batteries.

The 4680 cells are the new Tesla batteries which will be made by Tesla (their previous batteries were supplied by other companies as well as Tesla built) and supposedly they are much better/longer lasting and quicker charging batteries versus the old model.

But, they do require the proper infrastructure to be built and doing so certainly takes time.

While each day seems to bring something new to the EV market (not just from Tesla) I suspect next year will be an important one.

If Tesla manages to get their battery production fully revved up, there is literally nothing stopping them from pushing out a ton of vehicles to the masses. The more sold, the cheaper, one imagines, and we may all move away from the ICE vehicles we’re using now.

Two new models are noted in the article, the Cybertruck and the Semi, which require more batteries. But if they are finally put into production by late this year and can be manufactured fairly quickly by the next, one wonders what will happen then.

If batteries are plentiful, I suspect we’ll see/hear about a very cheap Tesla car. It will probably be a smaller vehicle, likely one more designed for the European market, but the article notes that they have vans in their sights as well.

Interesting times!

General

Coronavirus Diaries 27 – This n’ That And GameStop, Oh My…!

As the saying goes… Thank God it’s Friday.

Seems like each week that passes, that’s what I look forward to most, getting to the weekend.

It’s not a healthy way to be!

Five days suck and then you’re all eager to get to the end of it for two days of… not doing all that much!

Seriously, as much as I look forward to the weekend, the reality in these times is that it just means taking it “easy” and, if I do go out, it’s just for the bare necessities and then its back to the house to chill.

In the news, it seems the big thing is GameStop and the Redditors who are investing in it, driving its price up, and the “short sellers” -the big hedge funds- who are taking a big bath because they have predicted the fall of GameStop.

Yesterday Robinhood, the Wall Street stock app, and a few others, restricted the “ordinary” wo/man from buying the stock while allowing those big hedge funds to continue buying it unaffected.

That, among other things, triggered lawsuits and general fury. Things got hot enough for the CEO of Robinhood to show up for an interview…

Now, I don’t pretend to be some Wall Street wizard, but I’ve been following this for a few weeks now, before it blew up in the media proper. I’ll admit, I’ve gotten into Robinhood and I do have some stocks -I got really lucky and bought a decent, though not terribly huge, amount of Tesla stock before it really blew up- and I’ve been curious about what to invest in and do frequent Reddit…

…ergo…

…I knew about the rising tide of GameStop “retards” (as the investors jokingly call themselves) who are determined to “hold the line” and keep GameStop’s stock up while inflicting pain to the Hedge Fund managers who are trying to short the stock.

I have no particular love for Hedge Fund managers and don’t feel betting on a company to fail is a particularly noble way of earning money.

Yet I’ll be very blunt to those who are inflating the price of GameStop: It will come down eventually. The fact is that the company, a so-called “Brick and Mortar” gaming store, is on the decline. Like many businesses which have also suffered (like bookstores, comic book stores, and music stores) the fact is that many people now download their games and the convenience of doing so, IMHO, will eventually lead to these stores’ end.

It’s inevitable, in time.

What will happen to all that money people on the “streets” have invested in those stocks?

I dunno.

Even today they still talk of “holding the line” and not selling what they’ve bought but, eventually, there will come a point when that will be done, no?

Then what?

Seems to me there’s a big problem going on with Wall Street and I really, really hope history isn’t repeating itself. Back in the 1920’s, there was a time of elation (interestingly enough, it followed the so-called “Spanish Flu” pandemic which hit around 1918) and Wall Street was riding a high… like it is now.

However, there came the crash and it was bad, leading to the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

I wonder if we can fix the problems we’re currently seeing in Wall Street before we reach that sort of critical point.

More anxiety in this age of anxiety, no?

Anyway, its Friday and I’m going to try to have a nice one.

Hope you guys out there do so, too!

POSTSCRIPT:

As I was writing the above, Johnson & Johnson released the findings of its vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna ones, this vaccine requires only one dose versus two.

You can read about these findings in this article by Lauran Neergaard and Linda A. Johnson for the AP:

Johnson & Johnson 1-dose shot prevents COVID-19, but less than others

The key paragraphs:

J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective — 85% — against the most serious symptoms.

There was some geographic variation. The vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 – compared to 57% in South Africa, where it was up against an easier-to-spread mutated virus.

Now, while it may seem like this is a bit of a disappointment, an 85% efficacy against the moderate and severe COVID-19 symptoms is a pretty damn good result for a one-shot vaccine.

While many will likely still prefer the two shot vaccine, if this one is available and it only requires one shot, it makes for a very nice alternative.

We need to get people vaccinated and we need to get them vaccinated fast to get back to “normal”.

This should help!

General

Tesla Model S and X “Refresh”…

Yesterday came word -and images!- of the new “refresh” of Tesla’s Model S and X vehicles.

For those unaware, the Model S is their high end sedan and the Model X is their high end SUV. The new versions of these vehicles will look like this…

Understanding The Recent Changes Made To Tesla's Model S & X

To those who are into these cars, the exterior differences in the new Model S and X versions versus the old are subtle yet, IMHO, make it look even slicker.

The bigger, more obvious differences lie in each vehicle model’s interior.

Here’s the old interior of the S and X…

2017 Tesla Model X: 90 Interior Photos | U.S. News & World Report

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the new interior…

Tesla teases Model S Plaid with refreshed interior: New touchscreen, Roadster steering wheel, and more

Wow…!

I have to say, I’m very impressed with the new “space age” look, which IMHO instantly makes the not bad looking previous interior suddenly look very old and clunky. I would quickly add, however, that I wonder about that steering wheel. Here’s a closer look…

TESLARATI (@Teslarati) | Twitter

Sorry for the red circles in this image -these circles are NOT on the actual steering wheel!- but this image, taken from Teslarati, is the closest I could find of the new steering wheel. The red circles were put on the image to show off the additional controls which are on the steering wheel, including turn signals and windshield wiper controls.

As I said above, I wonder about the steering wheel, mainly how well it can be used versus a more typical circular one. Then again, I suspect Tesla has tested this new steering wheel quite a bit before going with it, so I’m hopeful that it works.

The other very intriguing thing about the new refreshed models is hinted at in the photograph which shows the entire front dash. If you look closely at the monitor, you’ll see that there’s a picture of The Witcher III: The Last Hunt video game on that monitor.

The new refresh models will have the ability, it would appear, to play any PC games!

For more information, read this article by Katie Wickens from pcgamer.com…

You can play Cyberpunk 2077 on the gaming PC inside the new Tesla Model S

Oh, and for those in the back seat who want to play games and don’t want to stretch their bodies forward to look at the monitor in the front…

Tesla 2021 Model S interior

Wow.

This is why Tesla, IMHO has such a bright future versus other car making companies.

Yes, having a full on PC gaming system within a car may seem silly, but damn if that isn’t an interesting add on. Already you can go on the web or play a pretty good group of games (including some arcade classics like Asteroids and Centipede!) while sitting around your car and otherwise doing nothing, but to now have the ability to play the latest high end video games?

Sheesh!

Anyway, if you have a bunch of cash just lying around doing nothing and are thinking about getting a new car, you may want to consider the new Teslas!

General

Coronavirus Diaries 26

Yesterday President Joe Biden had a news conference where he addressed the COVID-19 situation and, especially the issue regarding vaccines.

The bottom line from President Biden is: There were more vaccines ordered by him through Pfizer and Moderna (they currently have the two vaccines which are available in the U.S., though there are a few others which are in the process of being approved) and he anticipates that by May or later in the Summer/Early in Fall the U.S. will reach a point where enough people have had the vaccine -hopefully!- that we will have reached herd immunity.

Or, as ex-President Trump said, “Herd mentality”…

…yeah…

I’m so very glad we’re done with that… uh… individual. At least for the next four years and -hopefully, redux- forever.

In the mere week that Joe Biden has been President, the government and its various offices sure do seem to be operating at a more normal and efficient way. Let’s be clear though: Not everything has been solved nor is the nation suddenly and completely on the right track. It just seems to be operating more… normally now. Without all that craziness.

If it continues this way and the COVID-19 threat is indeed dealt with, perhaps people will come to realize its good to have a government run by serious people and not shoot-from-the-hip would-be stable geniuses who are knee deep into conspiracy theories while cozying up to strong arm leaders of the world instead of our regular allies.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pleased to not having heard the term “fake news” in quite some time.

Anyway, with President Biden giving an estimate for when things could be back to normal, I fully expect there will be plenty of criticism along the way there and especially if his predictions are off.

And he should be criticized if that is the case!

But at least now there does appear to be a bit of competency that was lacking and I’m really hopeful that things might finally improve.

Hard to believe its been nearly a year now that we’ve been living with this Virus. Truly it’s been longer, but things got really serious in March of last year, if memory serves. That was when it was clear the COVID-19 virus was very much in the U.S. and the first closings began.

If indeed it takes through Summer to reach herd immunity, we’re talking nearly a year and a half of living under this strain.

Just incredible.

General

De-Radicalization…

Easily the most scary thing about this election happened on January 6th and that attempt at insurrection which came too close to doing some real damage to this democracy.

Many of the people involved in that event were also involved in the conspiracy theory QAnon, which trades in some mighty wild theories indeed.

Its fair to say QAnon is a cult and its biggest followers are cultists.

Yesterday I noted I feel for them and that remains the case. These are people who have bought into an alternate reality and become disconnected from the real world.

Yesterday, during the inauguration of Joe Biden, QAnon adherents talked about the military within Washington D.C. rounding up Joe Biden and Democratic leaders and jail them while Donald Trump would begin his second term as President.

When Donald Trump left Washington in the early morning and when the hour approached for Joe Biden’s inauguration, some QAnon adherents desperately clung to the alternate reality that we’re about to witness Trump’s ultimate triumph instead of Biden’s inauguration…

Needless to say, this isn’t what happened.

Instead, we had -surprise, surprise!- the inauguration of Joe Biden as President and the departure of Donald Trump. To add insult to injury for some who participated in the January 6th insurrection, no pardons were issued to any of them.

These people, sadly deluded by the alternative reality ravings which got them to commit their lawless actions, now face the consequences of their actions and for many, this will involve jail time.

Again, I feel for them. I have no desire to see people suffer, especially people who have hitched their notions of reality to a fantasy like QAnon.

Following the inauguration and once it became obvious the QAnon fantasies were not going to come true, there were several stories written about the reaction of QAnon people to this. Some were in disbelief while others -and I hope there are many of them- realized they were being duped. Still others “moved the goalposts” and opined that Trump would come back to power in March or some other silliness.

Over on CNN they offered the following article by Brian Fung and Kaya Yurieff concerning the reactions by those who frequent the various QAnon sites:

QAnon believers are in disarray after Biden is inaugurated

One is tempted, given the gravity of what happened on January 6th and, before that, in states like Michigan, where armed morons invaded the capitol and a group of them were arrested following planning to kidnap the governor and various officials and, presumably, try and execute them, that these people should be punished and punished hard.

Some of them very much deserve this but there should be a focus given to deprogramming these individuals.

For too many years we’ve had right wing radio (Rush Limbaugh, for example) and right wing “news” stations (Fox News being prominent) promoting an alternate reality where liberals are always wrong and dumb and so very, very evil while those on the right -and the more right wing their politics the better- are always right and noble and All-American and you-name-it.

This ignores the fact that our country has a diversity of views and, to function properly, it requires compromise when moving forward.

Unfortunately, the talking heads in the right and far-right wing stratosphere have been for too long talking about never compromising and this has poisoned the government and, IMHO, led to too much disfunction.

Do liberals have totally clean hands?

What-aboutism, where one blames “both sides” for a problem is something that’s been used way too much to excuse extremists. While left wing pols have protested and, yes, even had protests where property was damaged, I have yet to hear any left wing politician or indeed any left-wing person express happiness with the idea of protests leading to property damage.

And the stark reality is that it wasn’t left-wingers who were behind the events of January 6th or the Governor Whitmer kidnapping plot in Michigan.

Again, though: It’s my hope -and maybe I’m being naive here- that we tamper down some of the extreme dialogue. And if we can’t do that, I hope that those who’ve been held in its thrall do indeed wake up to the supreme nonsense they’ve been fed all this time.

Reality bekons!